Chapter 11: With Blood and Rage of Crimson Red
Disclaimer: All material, plot elements, characters, and etc used in this story are owned by their respective creators this story is of my own creation covered under the fair rights usage act.
Bold Italics indicates Biju/universal entity speaking
Several hours later; Naruto and the others had returned to the Leaf village, the four lanterns changed back to their civilian attire and headed to the administration building. As they walked through the village Tsunade looked around the place, "Village doesn't looks like it's changed a bit." She said with a smile.
"Well with you running the show maybe you can make some changes for the best." Naruto smirked as they reached the administration building.
Inside his office Sarutobi was going over some files until he heard a knock on the door, "Come in." He called.
The door opened as Naruto, Jiriaya, and the three of the four lanterns entered, "We're back Jiji, and the mission's completed." Naruto said.
Before Sarutobi could say anything he saw his third and final student enter the room with the apprentice she took along with her many years ago. "Tsunade long time no see." He said as he got up from his desk.
"Hey old man," Tsunade approached him and the student and sensei hugged for a minute. "You're looking much younger." Tsunade joked.
"I wish." He responded and Tsunade laughed with the teens before Tsunade added one other bonus.
"By the way sensei I brought you an added bonus." Tsunade said as she motioned to the door and in stepped The Indigo Lantern with a still lobotomized Orochimaru and Kabuto in tow shocking the 3rd Hokage so severely that his eyeballs threatened to pop out of their sockets.
"You, manage to capture Orochimaru…but how?" Sarutobi asked still trying to get over the shock thinking it was a Genjutsu and trying to break it but to no avail.
"It was thanks to the Indigo lantern we were able to set up a trap and subdue them." Tsunade explained
"I see but why and how are they lobotomized in such a state?" The third asked as he noticed some drool dripping out of Kabuto's mouth.
"The ironic thing is that even though the Indigo tribe uses the light of compassion, from what we understand, most of the tribe is made of converted criminals who showed no compassion towards those they've harmed so when the ring attaches to that person it sucks them bone dry of every emotion except compassion." Naruto explained shocking the 3rd Hokage.
"Well that is a very twisted way to rehabilitate criminals. What about our Indigo friend here?" He asked, as the Lantern pulled her hood back to reveal Hinata Hyugaa.
"I'm fine lord Hokage, the reason for that is because while I have great compassion, I'm a good person and not completely cut off from my other motions so I'm in a sense immune to that function of the Indigo ring." Hinata explained as Sarutobi nodded with understanding.
"I see; guards send Orochimaru and Kabuto to the highest level prison cells we have." The third ordered two of his ANBU ninja as they vanished with the villainous duo.
"So has everything been taken care of sensei?" Jiriaya asked.
"Yes the preparations have already been made all that's left is for the Daimyo to recognize Tsunade as Godaime officially." The older man explained.
"Right sensei, but I want to make sure you make this job worth while for me because if I have to put up with crap from your old teammates especially Danzo or the civilians." Tsunade said before Sarutobi cut him off.
"Rest assured Tsunade I will be helping you out. The council of my team and the civilians may push you around, but with me at your side I'll make sure they know when to keep their mouths shut." Sarutobi assured his student.
"Well now that that's cleared up we better hurry and check on Sasuke." Naruto said.
"That's right and quick." Sakura added.
"Well then let's go I can't wait to see how the hospital staff's been handling things without me." Tsunade said as they headed off.
Soon they entered the hospital where the entire staff was surprised and honored to see Tsunade back. They then headed for Sasuke's room seeing him still the same as they left, with Kakashi waiting.
"May I come in?" Tsunade entered.
"Lady Tsunade!" Kakashi gasped.
"Well-well Kakashi Hatake, hard to imagine you used to be that little squirt of a Jonin." Tsunade teased.
"Yeah well you know." Kakashi chuckled sheepishly.
"Hey sensei." Naruto said as he and Sakura answered.
"How's Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
"Still the same I'm afraid." Kakashi sighed.
"Think you can do something Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked.
"Well I still got the old healing charm in me." Tsunade walked over to Sasuke placing her hand above his forehead, and her hand glowed green. Soon Tsunade's hand stopped glowing and Sasuke was moaning until his eyes opened looking glazed.
"Sasuke welcome back to the land of the living." Naruto smiled.
Sasuke sat up in his bed still tired, "What happened?" He asked confused about what happened
"You had quite a spill." Naruto replied and smiled.
Kakashi turned to his students, "You two go on ahead I'll meet up with you later." He said with his eye smile.
"Hai sensei." Naruto and Sakura replied before heading off.
Later they were walking around the village talking, "With a new Hokage imagine the possibilities." Sakura said in joy.
"Yeah and now that we're home I can finally move into my family's estate, it can be like our base of operations." Naruto added.
"That'd be cool." Sakura smiled.
"Yeah and speaking of cool, Sakura you were pretty cool with how you fought Kabuto." Naruto complimented as Sakura began to walk closer to him.
"So were you Naruto, and the way you set up that trap for Orochimaru and Kabuto was brilliant." Sakura said as Naruto started to blush.
"Well yeah but it was Hinata that caught them and hopefully they'll remain behind bars for a long time." Naruto said with a smile.
"True but it was your idea to trap them in the Indigo light." Sakura said as she smiled at Naruto.
"I was just doing my job like you, Lee and Hinata were, it wasn't that special." Naruto said back as Sakura stopped walking and ended up right in front of him making him blush slightly.
"Perhaps Naruto but you are still the greatest Lantern out of us all regardless of the color or emotion." Sakura said with a smile and sparkles in her eyes she then closed her eyes, leaned forward and puckered her lips making Naruto gasp.
"Sakura are you sure about this?" Naruto asked to which he got a nod from her in return so taking the hint Naruto closed his eyes and puckered his own lips until their lips connected in a passionate but gentle kiss catching the attention of most of the people around them who began to whistle and hoot at them much to their annoyance when the broke the kiss they figured now would be a good time to get going. "Let's get out of here." Naruto said while Sakura gave him a sneaky smile.
"Ok I'll race you." Sakura said as she ran off laughing.
"Hey no fair you got a head start." Naruto called back as the two of them ran through the streets laughing all the way.
About two days later everyone in the village was gathered around the administration building for the inauguration. On top of the building were Sarutobi, his teammates, Jiriaya, Shizune, and Tsunade.
"As the Sandaime Hokage it is my final act as leader of this village to pass on my title to my student and successor Tsunade of the Sannin." Sarutobi announced as he handed his hat over to Tsunade.
"Thank you sensei," She took the hat, "From this day forward I shall rule and protect Konoha with my life as the Godaime Hokage!" she announced while putting the hat on.
The citizens and Shinobi of the village broke out in applause and cheer, while on the other side of the crowd sat Sasuke. His eyes went from Tsunade's announcement to Naruto and squinted his eyes, 'Naruto!' he thought in jealousy and anger.
About five days later the village was back to the way it used to be, but with some Konoha shinobi who lost their lives, Chunin, Jonin, and even genin were being assigned extra missions, and some were even getting solo just to pick up the slack.
Meanwhile in the council chambers, Tsunade and the council were busy looking over various issues in and around the village.
"Okay so what's next on the agenda tonight?" Tsunade asked anxiously wanting to go to bed.
"Next item involves… The three fighters that helped defend Konoha during the Suna and Sound invasion." An Anbu read from a scroll.
Sarutobi and Tsunade were prepared to discuss about them, "Yes I heard from sensei about the three fighters that protected our village from Orochimaru, what about them?" Tsunade asked.
"Oh come now princess it's obvious isn't it?" Danzo asked, "After seeing what these warriors could do could play well to our advantage." He added.
"Our advantage?" Tsunade questioned not liking where this was going to head.
"I agree with Danzo, if we can incorporate them into our ninja ranks we can with their abilities and power we could become a greater nation than we ever were." Koharu said.
"Exactly, with them on our side we'll have the entire shinobi world quaking in fear, no other nation will dare try to start a war with us, and if they foolishly try the four of them will make them wish they hadn't." Danzo said.
Tsunade secretly frowned at Danzo's plot but kept it cool, "An interesting plan Danzo but with one flaw." Tsunade said with a smirk.
"And that would be?" the war monger questioned.
"You have no way of contacting them." She replied.
This raised questions out of the civilians, "That's right we don't know how to contact them." One of them said.
"And it's not like they're just going to come out into the open." Said another civilian.
Danzo smirked, "Touché Tsunade, however anyone can be drawn out into battle with the proper… motivation." Danzo suggested.
Tsunade growled, "See here you are not planning to stage an attack just to draw them out. Things aren't like they were before and I won't allow us to go back to the old methods!" Tsunade growled at the war monger.
"And even more so, that team has a title they called themselves the Lanterns." Sarutobi added.
"Lanterns, I don't understand Sarutobi?" Homura asked.
"Yes and they are not some ninja assassin team you can hire with payment and besides the Blue Lantern has told me that the light of hope is never under any circumstances allowed to take life." Sarutobi added.
"You speak as if you know them personally Hiruzen." Danzo pried on the Sandaime.
"You forget Danzo three of them saved my life from Orochimaru, and the newest lantern helped in the capture and detainment of Orochimaru and his right hand man. I never ordered them to but they did it anyway and do you know why? Because it was the right thing to do in their eyes. They fight for good, willpower, hope, compassion, and love something you've always failed to comprehend Danzo." Sarutobi shot back causing Danzo to frown at Sarutobi's words.
"Thank you sensei, so any talk involving any of the lanterns working for us to bring the rivaling nations into a state of fear is out of the question, especially when they are bound not only to the world but to this entire sector of the galaxy." Tsunade ordered as the other council members gasped at the thought that there actually was other sentient life amongst the stars. Danzo backed down with nothing more to say, "Now then this meeting is adjourned." Tsunade said as she banged her gavel on the table with that the civilians and the elder council started leaving save for Sarutobi and two of the clan heads heads.
"This is getting dangerous to control." Kizashi Haruno, Sakura's father said with worry.
"I agree if the elders continue to pry at this matter it will only be a matter of time until they figure out that our daughters are two of the lanterns." Hiashi added.
"Well as long as the two of you keep calm your daughters will be in the clear." Tsunade said causing both men to sigh in relief.
The very next morning at a lavish compound that made the Hyuga and Uchiha clan compounds look like playgrounds. After everything was resolved with Naruto's heritage Naruto was given the rights to the Namikaze compound owned by his father, the compound would officially not only be Naruto's new home, but the lanterns new headquarters since the basement was big enough to put so anything down there. The master bedroom of the Namikaze compound was complete with a huge king sized bed with tall bed knobs, silk bed sheets in red and black fiery designs, and five pillows with the same design as the sheets. The walls of the bedroom were colored in blue like the sky. There was a wooden bedside table on the right side of the bed with golden handles while the top was covered in crystal clear glass; on the left side was a mini-bar. There was a couch on the opposite wall of the one the bed was against, with a coffee table and coasters on it. The floor had a big red rug and hanging on the walls was a tapestry with the symbol of the Fire country and a second one with the Konoha leaf symbol on it. There was another door on the other side of his room which led to his private bathroom that had black and white marble floor tiles and was complete with a Jacuzzi tub, a toilet with a cushioned seat cover, a sink with a vanity mirror above, and a huge shower stall.
Naruto who was in the huge bed woke up yawning. He sat up straight and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "I hate Mondays." He groaned as his feet touched the cold floor He walked into his bathroom and got cleaned up before stepping out in his regular attire, "Alright time to get something to eat and head to the training ground with the guys." Naruto said to himself as he headed towards one of the training grounds after having some breakfast and leaving the compound, when he arrived all three of his lantern comrades were already there waiting for him. "Morning guys." He greeted
"Good morning Naruto." The other three responded.
"I hope you guys are ready for a little combat training?" Naruto asked and they all answered that they were. "Excellent now let's get started." Naruto said with a smirk as he and Lee were going at it tooth and nail as were Sakura and Hinata. After an hour, Sakura and Hinata got worn out and decided to sit and watch Lee and Naruto go at it with punches, kicks, throws, weapons, and more until finally they both collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.
"Naruto, I think now would be a good time to have a breather if that's okay." Lee said.
"You're right bushy brow lets call it a draw for now." Naruto panted as they got up and prepared to have whatever lunch they packed with them to restore their energy. While they were resting, Sakura just thought about something.
"Say guys, I know that we're Konoha ninja but aren't we assigned to protect our entire galactic sector?" Sakura asked.
"You bring up an interesting point Sakura, if word got out that we only protected the leaf and not any of the other hidden villages, then people would be able to deduce our identities without so much as a second guess." Lee said.
"That's true especially if the threats we have to protect them from are from deep space, including that Blackest Night prophecy our rings showed us." Naruto said as a chill ran down his and the other lanterns spines at the thought of everyone they once knew and loved coming back from the dead to rip their hearts out and end all life on Earth.
"I'll talk to Walker-sensei about it…" Naruto said before he cut himself off at the sight of a very angry and bitter Sasuke approaching them. "Hello Sasuke what brings you here?" Naruto asked.
"What's this all four of you having a sparring session and I wasn't invited?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.
"Well you never want to train alongside us anyway, so is their really any point in trying to ask you train with us?" Sakura asked back.
"Never mind about that, Naruto I want to fight you right now." Sasuke said as the others gasped while Naruto just arched his eyebrow.
"Do you mind running that by me again Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"You heard me I want to fight you right now!" Sasuke said.
"Sorry Sasuke but my answer is no, you're not much of challenge to me anymore." Naruto stated causing Sasuke to get angrier.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Sasuke asked.
"Fighting you is pointless for two reasons; first off you refuse to admit that you're actually weaker than me heck I believe that you could possibly be even weaker than Sakura, and second I don't have any reason to fight you." Naruto said in a calm voice that while sounding arrogant actually had more truth behind it than arrogance.
"Well I have a reason to fight you!" Sasuke snapped back.
"Sasuke what's your problem with Naruto?" Hinata asked until she felt her ring speak to her in her mind.
"Rage!" It said as in Hinata's eyes Sasuke was wearing a furious shade of red both inside and out while Naruto just stared at him.
"Are you truly that desperate to prove your supremacy over others that you find it necessary to challenge me?" Naruto asked before he sighed; "Fine I'll fight you but only because you insist on learning the hard way." Naruto said which got a smirk from Sasuke.
"Good then follow me." Sasuke said as he led Naruto to the hospital roof.
"This is not going to end in a good way." Lee said.
"I agree Sasuke's rage has all but consumed him, we better follow them just in case it gets out of hand." Hinata said.
"Yeah good point Hinata let's go." Sakura said as the trio tailed behind Sasuke and Naruto. When they got there they saw Naruto and Sasuke standing 10 yards apart from each other staring one another down.
"I really thought you had more control Sasuke, but having to challenge me just so you can prove you can beat Itachi?" Naruto asked.
"Shut your mouth, you don't know anything about me!" Sasuke bellowed.
"That's all you have to say snide remarks? You can't even come up with a good excuse because you know I'm right not to mention I'm the only person in the village with the balls to say this to your face Sasuke. You may look cool, smart, and talented on the outside but deep down on the inside you're nothing but a spoiled cowardly brat who can't accept that reality doesn't revolve around just him." Naruto replied.
"I told you to shut up!" Sasuke charged at Naruto to deliver a punch but Naruto caught his fist and threw him over his shoulders but Sasuke landed on his feet. Sasuke continued throwing blow after blow against Naruto who kept dodging it one way or another with little difficulty.
Naruto did a spin kick at Sasuke's face knocking him to the ground, "Had enough yet Sasuke? Because I've had enough of this." Naruto said with a stern look on his face.
Sasuke responded with a jutsu, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he screamed as he blew fireballs at Naruto.
"Typical." Naruto said with a sigh as he dodged the fireballs.
"Damn!" Sasuke cursed but continued to fight Naruto even with his two tomoe Sharingan activated he still couldn't land a decent hit on the blonde lantern.
Naruto summoned two shadow clones that proceeded to restrain Sasuke to make him give up but he wasn't about to. He lifted his legs and pulled the clones together bashing their heads together making them dispel.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he blew his fireball.
"Whoa!" Naruto called as he dodged the fireball getting a few burns on his shirt.
"What the hell is Sasuke trying to do?" Sakura asked in anger.
"My guess is that he's trying to goad Naruto into bringing something out but what?" Lee said as he thought about what Sasuke was trying force Naruto into doing until Hinata came up with the answer.
"He wants to expose Naruto's identity." Hinata answered as Sasuke and Naruto got some distance from each other both now on one knee panting but Sasuke was panting harder than Naruto was.
"Well Naruto I'm waiting." Sasuke said with a mock of impatience.
"What are you talking about Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"Don't take me for an idiot like yourself; I'm waiting for you to transform into the Blue Lantern, that story you came up with in the forest of death was all a lie and if you're the Blue Lantern then two of those three are the two that helped protect the village and whoever remains is the one who brought in Orochimaru." Sasuke said causing the others to gasp.
"What difference does it make to you if we are the lanterns or not anyway?" Naruto asked still keeping his temper in check.
"Why should you and those failures be given that kind of power when I get nothing or have everything stolen from me!" Sasuke said.
"You do that to yourself on a daily basis Sasuke." Naruto replied.
"Naruto is right Sasuke, you would never be able to handle the powers we possess because you fight for the wrong reasons and with the wrong emotions." Hinata said in defense of Naruto's claim.
"Wrong emotions and reasons?" Sasuke asked still seething.
"Precisely; our rings are powered by willpower, hope, compassion, and love. Emotions that are meant to protect and create. You are filled with too much rage and greed two of three emotions that are meant torture and destroy, and your rage will destroy you if you continue on this path." Naruto said as he dodged another strike by Sasuke.
"If you won't become the Blue Lantern willingly then I'll force it out of you." Sasuke said.
"Just try it I dare you, I double dare you mothafucka!" Naruto retorted as he nailed a punch to Sasuke's face.
"SHUT UP AND STAND STILL SO I CAN HIT YOU!" Sasuke screamed as he missed again before jumping up into the air and preparing a Chidori.
"No Sasuke, I think it's time someone made you sit still." Naruto said as he summoned a shadow clone that started forming the Rasengan. However as they were about to charge at each other Sakura who couldn't hold it in anymore ran towards both of them trying to stop them.
"Naruto, Sasuke STOP IT NOW!" She screamed as tears ran down her eyes, Lee and Hinata tried to stop her but they too nearly got caught in the crossfire.
"Not good, I can't stop!" Naruto said until Kakashi grabbed both his and Sasuke's hands and flung them at two water towers while Gai and Kurenai moved the trio out of the way.
"That was too close; is everyone okay?" Gai asked.
"I'm fine Gai-sensei." Lee said.
"I'm okay." Sakura said.
"I-I'm alright." Hinata answered.
Kakashi landed on the roof looking at his two students as they were against their own water towers, "What in the world is going on up here? That was a little intense for just a sparing match wasn't it, what's wrong with you two?" he asked.
Naruto pulled his hand off the water tower revealing a palm sized crater in it with a small hole in the center causing drops of water to squirt out.
'No doubt about it, that jutsu was the Rasengan.' Kakashi thought to himself.
Sasuke pulled his arm out of a cracked water tower and the water poured out of it like a fire hydrant. He looked over and saw how much more damage his move did to the water tower than Naruto's attack and smirked arrogantly.
"What were you thinking; we're you really planning to kill him Sasuke?" Kakashi asked and the Uchiha looked up to his sensei resting on top of the water tower. "You know you really got to watch this sense of superiority you have," Kakashi lectured and the Uchiha frowned, "That Chidori it was not the size you'd aim at a comrade from Konoha. When are you going to learn to grow up already?" he finished. 'Could meeting up with Itachi have provoked this?' He thought to himself as Sasuke just stared at him with his usual scowl.
Sasuke tired of hearing lectures jumped down from the roof and landed on a lower area, but when he looked up he gasped. The back of the tower Naruto hit was busted wide open thus being more affective than Chidori, and if it had hit him he would have suffered worse. He growled and slammed his fist into the wall, "Damn it Naruto just how strong have you become!" he growled and left.
Back on the roof the rookies were recovering while Sakura cried, "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke was trying to." She cried.
Kakashi sighed, "So much for teamwork."
Sakura and the others went to Naruto to help him up; "Are you okay Naruto?" Lee asked.
"Yeah I'm alright Lee thanks for asking." Naruto answered until Sakura pulled him into an embrace.
"Naruto you idiot don't ever do that again; do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" She asked as she cried.
"I'm sorry Sakura that I worried you like that." Naruto said with a smile returning the embrace.
Meanwhile the three Jonin watched and in relief until Gai spoke.
"That was a close call." He said.
"I'll say if we didn't get here in time…I don't want to even think about it." Kurenai said with a shudder.
"You three sure handled things well here." Jiriaya said from the left side of the water tower Sasuke had pierced.
"Lord Jiriaya." Gai gasped at the toad hermit's sudden appearance.
"So it was you that taught Naruto the Rasengan," Kakashi began, "I hope he hasn't been using that jutsu on other ninja in our village before this time." Kakashi said
"I assure you Kakashi he has not, by the way look who's calling the kettle black; I'm sure you noticed that Sasuke was the first to use his Chidori. I can't believe you would teach that kind of technique to someone like him. What the hell were you thinking?" Jiriaya asked Kakashi.
"I never thought things would get so bad that he would resort to using it on Naruto but I guess I was wrong, and to make matters worse is that he knows the identities of all four lanterns though he doesn't know which one of the girls is which lantern, and him finding out that Sakura could be even stronger than he is could really send him over the edge. "I'll be sure to give him a good talking to but for now I have a mission so I'll do it later." Kakashi said until Kurenai grabbed his ear with a scowl on her face.
"Oh no you don't you're going to write a letter of committal for that brat and have him removed from the ninja program and make sure the civilians don't get involved." Kurenai said as she dragged him along by his ear.
"Ow, hey Kurenai please let go of my ear that hurts, ouch!" Kakashi begged but Kurenai wasn't going to have any of it.
Meanwhile Naruto was in the forest meditating in an effort to calm down until he felt someone approach. "Brother Naruto we need to discuss what happened." Saint Walker said.
"Listen Walker-sensei about that…" Naruto said until Saint Walker held his hand up.
"Naruto, I understand that you had no intentions of harming Sasuke but I am disappointed that you allowed your little spar with him to escalate as far as it did to using your father's Jutsu." Walker said.
"Sensei listen I only used because I needed a Jutsu strong enough to counter his Chidori, I kept trying to get him to stop fighting but me he wouldn't listen." Naruto explained.
"Whatever reasons you had Naruto you must always remember to be careful with how you handle a situation." Walker said.
"I understand." Naruto said as he bowed his head and left.
Sometime later, Naruto was on his way home when he caught sight of Sakura waiting for him. "Hey Sakura what's up?" Naruto asked.
"I was just wondering if you would like some company after what happened earlier." Sakura said
"It's okay Sakura I was heading home anyway." Naruto explained as Sakura caught his arm.
"Naruto actually I was wondering if it was alright with you that I stay at your place tonight?" She asked which caused Naruto's eyes to pop out of his head.
"Are you sure about this Sakura what about your parents?" Naruto asked.
"Don't worry I already talked with them and their okay with it, just as along as we don't do anything that's not PG-13." Sakura explained.
"I suppose you could…" Naruto said before Sakura cut him off by grabbing his arm and pulling him towards his home.
"Great let's go!" Sakura said as she dragged Naruto along.
Later in Naruto's room inside the compound, Naruto was nervous about Sakura's recent behavior, at first he shrugged it off and thought nothing of it but lately it seemed she had been trying to ensure that she would be the only one to have him even though she seemed to be in control over her ring. However when he thought about it after hearing Sakura tell him what Sasuke said about her, and how she had been looking at Sasuke with indifference, Naruto could assume that Sakura had moved on from Sasuke to him out of love but there was still a lingering doubt in the back of his mind. "I really hope that this is all Sakura and not the ring." Naruto prayed to himself as he sat in his bed reading a book and wearing a blue sleeveless tank top and black pants for his sleep ware while Sakura appeared in a violet nightgown and tucked herself in right next to Naruto.
"Wow this bed is definitely more comfortable than my own." Sakura said in pleasure as she sat on the mattress.
"I'll bet it is." Naruto said as he yawned, stretched his arms upward, and then brought them down while Sakura placed herself in a position that would allow Naruto's arms to wrap around her. She then placed her right hand on his left face cheek (A/N: Had to be specific here.) and gave him a passionate kiss that was returned by the blushing Blue Lantern.
"Goodnight Naruto I love you." Sakura said as she closed her eyes in his embrace as he smiled.
"Goodnight Sakura, I love you too believe it." He whispered in her ear before he too closed his eyes and let sleep take him.
Meanwhile however inside Naruto, Adara and Kurama were still trying to figure out which ring was coming as they had a chalkboard with the insignias and colors of each lantern corps and drawings of who got which ring.
"Okay Bird brain now correct me if I'm wrong but right now we have; our vessel as part of your corps, the soup bowl cut, bushy eye browed youth spouting freak in the green corps, the shy heiress in the Indigo tribe along with the snake bastard and his lackey both of whom have been converted to said tribe, and finally the cherry blossom girl is among the sapphires correct?" Kurama asked his cellmate.
"Correct and the disturbance I've been feeling lately radiates with both rage and avarice but the question is which one will find a candidate first?" Adara asked as the two paced around in the seal.
Elsewhere at the Uchiha Compound Sasuke was in his room pissed off beyond belief, as he thought back to what Naruto and the other lanterns had told him. "I fight for the wrong reasons?" He asked himself, as he stomped around in his room. "How dare they think that my vengeance is something that I should forget. I'll show them that I'm superior to all of them no what they claim." He said to himself quietly. "However, just how strong is Naruto?" Sasuke asked himself as his fists shook in anger as he thought back to the battles in the land of waves, the forest of death, the invasion, and what he heard had just gone down recently it all just made his blood boil that finally he let it all out with a roar; "Naruto Uzumaki you dobe I HATE YOU!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell to his knees on the floor. Suddenly a strange red glow shined behind him.
"Sasuke Uchiha of Sector 2814, you have great rage in your heart." A voice said as the avenger turned around and spotted a red lantern and a ring with flying around and about him, however the insignia of this ring was one of a lantern circle caught in between two lines on either side of it making it look like an "H" (A/N 2: That's probably the best way I can describe the red sigil) that zoomed around him and attached to his right ring finger. Suddenly Sasuke convulsed and twitched before falling to the ground and coughing up his own blood on the floor, "You belong to the Red Lantern Corps." The ring said as suddenly his clothes began to change from a blue shirt and white shorts to a red and black shirt with the Red Lantern corps insignia on the front and the Uchiha Clan crest on the back. Sasuke then grabbed the lantern and said the oath as it made itself clear in his slowly turning animalistic mind.
"With blood and rage of crimson red,
Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead,
Together with our hellish hate,
We'll burn you all—THAT IS YOUR FATE!" Sasuke said as he blasted through the roof of his home and flew off to find and kill Itachi but, the problem was he didn't know where to start looking so he decided to just search under in every nook and cranny until he found his brother and exacted his revenge, what he didn't know was that two other individuals were watching what occurred. The first was a huge Blood red color alien that appeared to have yellow eyes all consumed by his own hate, he wore a red lantern uniform, this alien was known as Atrocitus; Founder and leader of The Red Lantern Corps based on the plant Ysmault in galactic sector 666 aka The forgotten zone. In his arms was a blue kitten from Earth who more or less followed Atrocitus around like a pet wearing the same uniform as Sasuke and Atrocitus but the difference was that instead of having the ring on one of his fingers or paws as the case may be, the ring was located on his tail; this cat's name was Dex-Starr. Why one of the red lanterns of this sector was a cat Atrocitus didn't know or care however this young boy may prove to be of some use to him against the small number of ninja lanterns located in the leaf.
"Come Dex-Starr we have some additional recruiting to do." Atrocitus said to his pet who purred maliciously as the two headed for Earth.
The next morning while Naruto and Sakura who were still in one another's embrace I might want to add were sleeping when suddenly Lee burst through the bedroom door.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY EMERGENCY VERSION!" He shouted as he kicked the door off its hinges waking Naruto and Sakura up forcing Naruto to roll to one side with Sakura still in his arms.
"Naruto we've got a…" Lee started to say until he saw the position that Naruto and Sakura were in. "Oh I'm so sorry I'll comeback another time." He said before Naruto stopped him.
"Hold it Lee what's going on?" Naruto asked.
"Oh right we have an emergency it's Sasuke." Lee said before Naruto cut him off again.
"Tell him I'll deal with him later." Naruto said non-chalantly.
"That's just it Naruto he left last night." Lee said shocking both Naruto and Sakura.
"WHAT?!" They asked in unison.
"I'm afraid it's even worse than that, according to my ring, it said that Sasuke has become a Red Lantern." Lee said causing Sakura to gasp.
"How soon does Granny Tsunade want us to leave?" Naruto asked his Green Lantern comrade.
"She wants us to leave ASAP, Hinata's already at the gate waiting for us." Lee explained as the trio ran out of the compound as fast as they could. When they got to the gate; they spotted Hinata along with Chouji, Shikamaru, Neji, and Kiba; apparently according to Lee, Tsunade wanted two teams to track Sasuke down if he had obtained a lantern ring; one to cut off his escape route and the other to remove his power ring.
"How did it ever come to this Sasuke?" Naruto asked himself as Naruto and Shikamaru's teams set up their retrieval formations with Sakura leading Naruto's team as their sensor and Kiba along with Akamaru doing the same for Shikamaru's team, next would be the leaders in this case Naruto and Shikamaru, followed by the muscle of both groups; Lee and Chouji, and final both Hyugaas would be the rear look outs.
"Okay now before we move out I just want to say that I never really liked nor did I care about Sasuke, however even though Sasuke's defected he's still one of us, and it's possible we might have to fight him. I cannot guarantee how this will all work out, but we're' going to make sure we all return." Shikamaru said to the group of eight.
"Well with that said let's get going." Naruto said as he, Lee, and Sakura pulled out their lanterns and Hinata pulled out her staff, and then placed their rings into the said power batteries.
"In fearful day/In brightest day/For those whose hearts/Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur,
In raging night/In blackest night/are full of fright/Natromo faan tornek wot ur.
With strong hearts full our souls ignite/No evil shall escape my sight/For those alone in Blackest night/Ter Lantern ker lo Abin Sur,
When all seems lost in the war of light/Let those who worship evils might? Accept our ring and join our fight/Taan lek lek nok
Look to the stars for hope burns bright/Beware my power Green Lantern's light/Love conquers all with violet light/-Formorrow Sur!" The four said in unison as their custom lantern uniforms appeared on them shocking the others except Shikamaru.
"Somehow I just knew that it was you four, this is going to be such a drag." Shikamaru said with a sigh as the eight ninja headed out.
Meanwhile in one of the hideouts in the land of Rice fields, Atrocitus had found tracked down four of a potential five candidates for his Red Corps. They were Orochimaru's former bodyguards the Sound Four now rechristened the red four.
"Now you four have an important mission capture and bring me the one known as Sasuke Uchiha, I have something very special planned for him." Atrocitus said as he stroked Dex-Starr and when the sound four left he and Dex-Starr began laughing demonically, at least until Dex had to cough up a hairball.
Uh-oh one of the big time baddies of Lantern lore has shown up and to make matters worse, with Orochimaru incapacitated, He's taken over the hideouts that make up the Hidden Sound village. With the sound four on their way to intercept Sasuke can our team of two Chunin and six genin stop Sasuke before Atrocitus get his hands on him? Next time Race against the clock! Stop Sasuke.
Read and review folks and before you ask yes I am aware that giving Sasuke a red ring shouldn't occur until much later but to me he fits it better than he would as an Agent Orange besides given how Sasuke is in the manga at this point in time he's little more than what the red rings reduced those who wear them to a mad dog foaming at the mouth that needs to be put down. As for Atrocitus being here I couldn't give him a reason of showing up other than trying to build a new Red corps on this version of Earth that would retain some sense of intelligence and rational though but still subservient to him. Also yes the red Lantern corps does have an Earth house cat in their ranks look it up. The Mothafucka line from Pulp Fiction was just something that came into my head in the heat of the fight.